Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Belated Happy Memorial Day to all-- for the Summer Vacation/School's Out theme this week, I've included a Greeting Card with a fantastical Mother/Daughter moment, where they are sailing along on a trusty Swan friend.

(Sidebar: clearly this one is a bit more White Swan-esque, since although I love the concept of the "Black Swan" and am unhealthily obsessed with that film, I wouldn't trust such an angry Anatidae to give me a ride :-p heh)

In any event, on summer vacations when I was little, my Mom and I would always go and feed ducks at the local duck pond. I loved ducks, and was really excited to get to see those as well as ducklings. Swans didn't come around as much, so they were an extra-special treat when they'd occasionally waddle through the park.

Hopefully this lass and her Mama will have many fun evenings during the summer where they get to travel Swan Lake, if not see (or be characters in) the ballet of the same name (-:

P.S. Just finished mailing off half my postcards for the Postcard project tonight, and the final ones going out tomorrow. Eep! Exciting and very White Rabbity to run so late, but I am excited to get them out and very much hoping my recipients enjoy them. I have been smiling a lot with the ones that have been coming to me in the mail ^___^

P.P.S. And, edited to add-- thank you very much, Inspiration Avenue! My swanny passions this week earned me the I.A. Red Carpet badge for the week, and I am very grateful <3 Yay for summer, school being out, and happy art making! <3 Hugs and hope everyone's week is off to an inspirational start.

P.P.P.S. It's somewhat tragic how long it took me to figure out how to add the Red Carpet Badge to my blog, but I finally did it, and it brings any readers back to the I.A. blog. Please click there, and scroll down to see the many wonderful challenges and art that go up each week!

Friday, May 25, 2012

The above picture is actually one I'm working on in gray, black and white, pencil/ink tones. But it's in progress, and so with a bit of computer manipulation, I was able to give it the Old-Timey, Sepia-y, "Faded" look.

Shamelessly fan-girling, I'll admit that face is loosely based on a newly popular character, from a newly popular show, whose dreams of true love quickly "faded" at the end of her show's season finale. Which I am still boggled over.

To hint more directly at what I'm talking about, as well as to showcase a flawless .gif file showing a particularly angry/fierce moment this character had earlier this season, look below.

Anyway, have I crossed into the realm of fan-art? Possibly. I will now slink away, and hide that sad knowledge in my invisible infinity box. While I wait impatiently for the Autumn, and the return of this show.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Because both C.T. and I.A. inspired me in a way that came together, I'm submitting a singular drawing for both.

For Inspiration Avenue peeps, "Creative Tuesdays" is a blog run by the amazing "Mmm," a.k.a. Mister Toast! The blog once prompted themes bi-weekly to be posted on Tuesdays, and now prompts themes weekly that can be posted at any day, so long as it's posted by Tuesday. The full details are here:

For Creative Tuesday peeps, "Inspiration Avenue" is a blog run by a wonderful Etsy team, that comes up with new themes every Monday, as well as sponsors challenges and other giveaways and such. The full details are here:

I know some people are bothered by clowns, and I apologize--I really, really hope nobody on either blog site is, but just in case, I'm going to mention it in the comments as a trigger warning. I am not someone scared of them. In fact, I love them, and they've always made me laugh, happy, or feel for them (if they were sad clowns, I always wanted to befriend and hug them as a kid), so I felt they fit the themes of dealing with your "heart," as well as "happiness," at least for me.

Below is my double submission, "Clowning Around!"

So. Onward: Creative Tuesdays and "Everyday Happiness."

Clowns and old illustrations of them have always made me smile. As a child, I loved the circus the few times I got to go. I've unfortunately realized as an adult they are problematic, especially for the animals and elephants )-,: But that said, I love circus art (as well as Merry-Go-Round art-- they seem similar to me for some reason), and old Victoriana illustrations showing happy dancing elephants and bears, and the clowns who love them. They come out a lot in sketches I do, even just as side notebook doodles, which I'd say makes them in the category of "everyday happiness" for me, because I end up drawing them quite a lot.

Also, ink drawing is something I do every day (or almost every day, time and comfort level depending, given muscle stuff and the need to rest). Even if on a given day I can't draw, I always look at either my own books, comic books, or the Internet at ink drawings. That gives me everyday happiness. Line work, shading, and any kind of image you can make with ink also give me everyday happiness. Art and drawing keep a vital (metaphorical, anyway) part of my heart going, which leads me into...

Inspiration Avenue and "Art With Heart."

The piece I'm submitting has the character framed in a heart, as well as little hearts hidden throughout her face and hair. As I mentioned before, as a kid (and still), clowns are something that have always made me happy, and thus, touched my heart. I never saw them as scary, but just as playful and silly. I love Halloween, and so the fact that there were people who got to wear silly costumes, makeup, and wigs year round, seemed really cool to me. I have always loved silliness and puns, so the sight gags were something I appreciated-- as well as the stories they told. Sad clowns made me feel sad too, and I always wanted to give them a hug or befriend them. They touched my heart in a different way. In any case, because they have affected me metaphorically, and because my piece has hearts framing and hidden in it, I thought it fit the Inspiration Avenue theme as well.

Well, now that I've officially hit the "tl;dr" mark (Internet Slang for "too long; didn't read," heh), here are some useful links for those interested in submitting to either one of these wonderful forums, or checking out the links posted there!

Monday, May 7, 2012

If her lacy bodice's hidden drawings, her earrings, and her subliminally curled hair were not hints enough, this young lass is soon to be getting "hitched." She's part of a new series of faces I've been drawing and experimenting with various styles/techniques on. Fun project, and I have fun hiding secrets and silly jokes and swirls in patterned chaos (-:

To submit to Illustration Friday for this week's theme of "Hitched," please go to:

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Here is a little sketch I did for "Creative Tuesdays" this week, with the theme of "Healthy." As you can see, below is a cartoon nurse who is kind, and giving some lucky person a high grade on their clean bill of health.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Via looking up my birthday, I am "Wednesday's Child..." which with certain aspects of my persona explains a bit. Ha. And this was also updated at 1:42 in the morning, to make things even more accurate.

In any case, in keeping with her being full of woe, I shopped together of a spot illustration of a Mom and Girl, where Girl is upset her Teddy got ripped, onto a calendar of the year I came to be. But, shhhh! Her Mom will sew him right back up, for her daughter feeling cats, and her woe will be gone <3

Hello There! About Me

Here's my blog! When I've the time, I post here. Sometimes writing and random thoughts, but mostly with updates on projects, art fairs, and submissions to the many cool art challenges online.
I'm a New Yorker, who loves London, who lives in Los Angeles. Otherwise, I am an artist, illustrator, and freelance writer who is also a "cardtoonist." Which means, I create handmade cartoon cards- and often caption them with puns inside. I also do sequential work and contributed a story to the "Samurai Graphic Novel" anthology, released in early 2011, with info here: http://tinyurl.com/samuraigraphicnovel.
Please say hello! donna.v.letterese@gmail.com